The year ahead for the multi-talented Dread Steppa

Dread Steppa aka Sheel Dread is a DJ / Producer / Graphic Designer and Artist hailing from Nairobi, Kenya. Spending time in Leicestershire, UK, Sheel absorbed the Caribbean quirks of the Midlands DJ scene and has been engulfed by it’s spectacular and vibrant sound system culture.

Dread Steppa is a member of Kenya’s premier Dub / Electronic band “Asili Dub” and also a Co-director of S.M.P Kenya, a collaborative events and production based company which organizes various events within the country in an effort to help promote lesser known genres of music.

2014 is going to be a big year in terms of production for Dread, aside from the Nomads EP in the works, there will be another full album release with his Dub fusion band “Asili Dub” and of course various collaborations with the likes of Shoe Shine boy, Kombo & the Afro Simba Band, The Mangroove Collective, St. Evo “The Myth”, Vitushenzi and many more.

Dread Steppa’s Nomad E.P album is going to be his first official release, even though self – independently released, he aims to get his music out to a greater audience by consistenly releasing great tunes. The Nomad E.P is heavily based around a fusion of our East African culture, electronic bass and digital roots genres and each of the three tracks embodies the sound he seeks to pursue.

From a listen of the E.P, you immediately get a jumpy feel of all the music an before you know it your in tune with a dance moves.

“Nomads” has the feel of the northern Kenyan / Eastern fusion whilst still having the deep reggae / dubstep style feel with a mixture of roots and dub. “The Hunted” is a 140 BPM dubstep tune aimed at DJs for circulation at clubs; it has the classic wobble style coupled with the syncopated grooves. The track also has deeper meaning than others in that it’s based on the legendary Maasai right of passage hunts (to earn right of passage to manhood the young tribe members had to kill a lion.) You begin to hear stalking chants first and then the hunt with actual samples of the Maasai’s chanting.

“Olduvai” (sourced from the Olduvai Gorge in Rift Valley which known as the birthplace of man in modern science, is located in Kenya, where the famous hominid bones were found). “We liked this name as it has a profound meaning and found it would be fitting for our favorite track. It has a fast heavy steppers style tune, made for sound system dances, powerful horns fill the space whilst I add a little bit of that Kenyan / Eastern influence on the percussion.

Listen to a few of the snippets of his E.P dub sets below

Nomads

The Hunted

Olduvai

Keep up to date by joining Dread’s page for upcoming gigs, mixes and releases-> DREADSTEPPA

By Michael Nzambu